Bardic College
Comments from the Finger: This is one of our favorite 3.5 classes for adding flavor to bards, though unfortunately it provided very little function. In the past edition, the full 1-20 Battledancer class was an under-powered mess, which could be accomplished more easily with the Dervish prestige class for much of the same flavor, with some powerful mechanical benefits as well. As a result, this class borrows heavily from the Dervish class mechanics.
College of Battledancing
Graceful, exotic, and lethal, the rare bards who commit to learning battledancing are nimble combatants, revered in legend. Their motions appear to be as random as they are agile, but those are the steps of a lethal dance played out according to their own rhythm. It is a beautiful dance of predator and prey, of whirling blades and hapless victim.
Bonus Proficiencies
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the scimitar. Additionally, you gain proficiency in Performance. If you are already proficient in this skill you may choose another skill proficiency from among those bards can choose at 1st level.
Dervish Dance
Beginning when you select this college at 3rd level, you may enter a Dervish Dance as a bonus action by expending a Bardic Inspiration die. Your Dervish Dance lasts a number of rounds equal to the amount rolled on the die + 1. You can’t perform a dervish dance in medium or heavy armor or while carrying a shield. During your Dervish Dance, your armor class increases by 2 and enemies have disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you. You must move at least 10 feet on each on your turns to continue Dervish Dancing, otherwise you stop when you end your turn.
When you take an Attack action while you are Dervish Dancing, you may make a melee attack against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each target.
Parry
At 6th level, when another creature damages you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one Bardic Inspiration die to reduce the damage by the number you roll on your Bardic Inspiration die + your Dexterity modifier.
Thousand Cuts
At 14th level, as an action while you are Dervish Dancing, you can attack a single creature numerous times in a flash of blades. You suffer a -1 penalty on your attack for each time you successfully hit. You may continue to attack until you miss, to a maximum of 6 attacks. After using this ability, you must complete a short or long rest before using it again.
Changelog: 7/13/15: No longer gains extra attacks while dervish dancing at 6th level.
